Swell Memories by Dermot Whelehan
"A Name" Part One. Part two to be published first week in July.
How did your local spot get named?
A NAME by Dermot
So much salt water has passed between my ears I'm convinced the moons gravitational pull has impacted my memory. My memory is like a barnacle on an old piling – nothing comes out till the water comes in! The catalyst for this essay was a recent discussion regarding favorite surf spots. I remembered an event many years ago that generates another….Swell Memory….a memory about chasing a swell and naming a spot.
Surf spots get their names for a variety of reasons and sources. Take for example Trestles in Southern Orange County, California. This is a classic and simple example of how a surf spot gets a name. Along that stretch of beach is a train trestle which must be crossed under before you can get to one of California’s classic breaks, hence the name – Trestles. Mostly though, surf spots are named for the obvious: a nearby street, a manmade structure, a geographic feature, or sometimes a name given to it by a famous surfer; a name that has remained throughout the lore and lexicon of the surf culture. I think the idea and thrill of giving a spot a name was promoted by the film classic Endless Summer. I can still hear Bruce Brown in that bubbly voice of his saying “…and we called this place – in’s and out’s.”
I have to believe if I journeyed to that spot today there would be a sign on the road saying, “In’s and Out’s 5 miles ahead.”
Names of surf spots mean a lot to surfers; we talk about the names, read about them, and often wish we were at some exotically named spot (except for Teahupoo!). Within our own domain, our own well traveled area, we know all the spots like the back of our hands. If you told a fellow surfer you got barreled at Hangars they would instantly know where this spectacular event took place. If you told a non-surfer the same thing they would think you purchased a wheelbarrow at a new home improvement store.
Rarely, if ever, does the average surfer get to name
a spot and have that name stick.
However, what many of us have done on occasion, especially when we were
young, is give a spot a name knowing full well only a few close surfing
buddies will recognize it. The opportunity to name a spot - to be Bruce
Brown - presented itself to me and my friends as we chased a swell up
the coast from South Florida over 3 decades ago.
When you've just turned 16, and have had your license for a very shot period of time, your parents understand your need to go the beach, to surf, to have some fun, to be with friends. However, they still put restrictions on you. Usually the restriction is generic in nature, something along the line of, "Don't venture to far from your local beach, just stay in the area - OK."
To a 16-year-old surfer - who just got his license – that guidance is interpreted as…stay south of Cape Hatteras! With that clear guidance from my folks, my two friends and I were off to find waves.
End of Part One. Part Two to be published First week in July.